


I Missed You

by honeyhoneybee



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Bulimia, Eating Disorders, Fluff, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Hugs, Luther Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Recovery, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 17:52:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19339567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyhoneybee/pseuds/honeyhoneybee
Summary: Luther gives Vanya some very good news, and she hugs him.OR: The first time Vanya and Luther hug since The IncidentTM.TW: Brief mentions of Eating Disorder, Implied bulimia, nothing explicitly depicted





	I Missed You

**Author's Note:**

> A SEQUEL/in the same universe as "Some Leader" by Marmarhargreeves which can be read here:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/18828280

To no one’s surprise, undoing years of trauma and abuse was no easy feat. In the months following the almost-apocalypse, the Hargreeves siblings had made progress towards becoming some semblance of a family, but that family was still dysfunctional at its core. Still, Vanya was content for the time being with progress her siblings had made. Even Luther – in fact, especially Luther.

It had been seven months since the Almost Apocalypse, and three months since the night her siblings had found their biggest brother in the bathroom forcing himself to be sick. Ever since then, he’d been making a lot of progress. He started coming to the nightly “family dinners” Allison and Klaus made, his presence becoming more and more frequent as the weeks went by. And it wasn’t just meals, he’d been sending more time with his siblings in general, sometimes watching movies or building blanket forts with them, or letting them proofread his research. 

He still kept to himself for the most part, but Vanya knew that distancing himself from his family was all he’d ever known – something she was still struggling with herself due to her upbringing. And although Luther still shied away from any physical contact with her, she noticed how he no longer flinched when she passed him by in the hallway, or when she decided to sit next to him on the couch during movie night. Still, the riff in their relationship was obvious. 

Funnily enough, Diego was the one who noticed the tension. He came up with the genius idea of putting them on kitchen clean-up duty every night, thereby killing two birds with one stone. It was a bit of an insurance policy for Luther, giving him something to focus on after eating. And it forced the two of them together for at the very least twenty minute a night of close physical proximity. But gradually, they had become more comfortable around each other, and it was starting to feel less forced.

Vanya didn’t notice Luther fidgeting beside her as they did the dishes together. Not did she pick up on the fact that he had washed the same pot three times in a row. She was focused intently on scraping melted cheese off the plate in her hands.

Luther spoke in a hushed, tentative tone.

“Hey, uh, I have some news.”

“Hmm?” Vanya didn’t look up from the plate, expecting to hear about some epiphany in his efforts of developing a new method of dating moon rocks.

“I’m telling you cause I know you won’t tell the others.” Those words sent off alarm bells ringing in her head. She looked up at her brother with worry, searching for his big, blue eyes to read his emotions, but found them downcast.

“What’s wrong, Lu?” She touched his shoulder. He didn’t flinch, just looked back at her and shook his head.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he said quickly. A small pause, and then a sheepish smile played at his lips. “I just wanted to tell you that, I uh.” He cleared his throat, eyes going to the floor again. “I haven’t done it in two weeks.”

The panic in Vanya’s chest slowly melted into relief, soon to be replaced by joy. This news was pretty much the exact opposite of what she’d been expecting to hear. Two weeks. As insignificant as it sounded, she was well aware of how big of an accomplishment this was for her brother.

“Luther,” she said softly, lips upturning in a small smile as she finally met his eyes. “That’s so good!” Her brother’s gaze quickly returned to his feet.

“It’s really no big deal. Just thought you might want to know.”

“Hey, it is so a big deal.” Vanya punched him playfully on the arm, knowing it wouldn’t hurt him. “Thank you for telling me.” 

And then the unthinkable happened: Vanya wrapped her arms around her big brother’s waist and squeezed, and he didn’t flinch away from her. Or tense his abs, or give any indication of discomfort. He just let it happen. She squeezed him tighter:

“I’m so proud of you.”

And that’s when she felt something she’d feared thought she might never feel again: her brother’s thick, sweatered arms hovering around her shoulders. Hesitating for a moment there before finally she felt the tiniest squeeze, gentle enough to pet a butterfly.

Luther was hugging her back. For the first time in seven months – hell, for the first time in thirteen years, her brother was hugging her.

They stayed like that for a few moments until she let out a little sniffle. She didn’t realize she’d been crying until she felt him shift away from her, and the fabric of his sweater was damp against her cheek. And then his arms were limp at his sides again. But she didn’t let go.

“Vanya,” Luther finally spoke up, voice more than a little panicky. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, I’m not a china doll.”

“But you’re crying.” She squeezed his waist tighter.

“Because I missed you, you big idiot.”

“Oh.” She could swear she heard the faintest chuckle from her brother. Just before she felt a big, gloved hand on her head, awkwardly petting her hair. “Me too.”


End file.
